Abstract
Although Escherichia coli has generally been used as the host for expressing cloned genes, there may be advantages in using other bacteria, such as Bacillus subtilis, for making viral or eukaryotic polypeptides. B. subtilis is a non-pathogenic Grampositive bacterium which, unlike E. coli, does not produce endotoxins and excretes several extracellular proteins in large amounts. Strains of Bacillus are widely used commercially for producing enzymes and antibiotics, and B. subtilis (natto) is used in Japan as a source of food for human consumption. Existing methods for large-scale growth of B. subtilis and for isolating proteins from such cultures may be useful for making viral or eukaryotic polypeptides from Bacillus strains containing cloned DNA. We describe here how proteins cross-reacting with antibodies against either the core antigen of hepatitis B virus (HBV) or the major antigen (VP1) of foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) can be made in B. subtilis when the appropriate viral gene is inserted into a suitable plasmid vector.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Gryczan, T. J. & Dubnau, D. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 75, 1428–1432 (1978).
Gryczan, T. J., Shivakumar, A. G. & Dubnau, D. J. Bact. 141, 246–253 (1980).
Shivakumar, A. G., Hahn, J. & Dubnau, D. Plasmid 2, 279–289 (1979).
Horinouchi, S. & Weisblum, B. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77, 7079–7083 (1980).
Küpper, H. et al. Nature 289, 555–559 (1981).
Kurz, C. et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 9, 1919–1931 (1981).
Gryczan, T. J., Contente, S. & Dubnau, D. J. Bact. 134, 318–329 (1978).
Bolivar, F. et al. Gene 2, 95–133 (1977).
Pasek, M. et al. Nature 282, 575–579 (1979).
Tanaka, T. Molec. gen. Genet. 175, 235–237 (1979).
Broome, S. & Gilbert, W. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 75, 2746–2749 (1978).
Contente, S. & Dubnau, D. Molec. gen. Genet. 167, 251–258 (1979).
Sutcliffe, J. G. Nucleic Acids Res. 5, 2721–2728 (1978).
Binns, M. M., Davies, D. L. D. & Hardy, K. G. Nature 279, 778–781 (1979).
Maxam, A. M. & Gilbert, W. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 74, 560–564 (1977).
Bowen, B., Steinberg, J., Laemmli, U. K. & Weintraub, H. Nucleic Acids Res. 8, 1–20 (1980).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hardy, K., Stahl, S. & Küpper, H. Production in B. subtilis of hepatitis B core antigen and of major antigen of foot and mouth disease virus. Nature 293, 481–483 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/293481a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/293481a0
This article is cited by
-
Intranasal administration with recombinant Bacillus subtilis induces strong mucosal immune responses against pseudorabies
Microbial Cell Factories (2019)
-
Host-vector systems for the thermotolerant methanol-utilizing bacteriaMethylophilus spp. KISRI-Strains
Current Microbiology (1991)
-
Plasmid maintenance and growth of recombinantSaccharomyces cerevisiae producing hepatitis B virus surface antigen
Biotechnology Letters (1986)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.